Talking picture screen



- May 7, 1935. H. HERTZBERG TALKING PICTURE SCREEN fined Sept. 7, 19:54

A TTORNEYI Patented May 7, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 2,000,174 TALKING PICTURE SCREEN Harry Hertzberg, Brooklyn, N. Y.

application September '1, 1934, Serial No. 743,042

5 Claims.

This invention relates to projection screens for talking pictures and particularly to that class of such screens in which sound passages are provided which extend uniformly over the whole projection surface of the screen.

It is an object of this invention to provide a screen of the type described which is simple and light in construction and which may be readily mounted and disassembled.

It is another object of the invention to provide means of suspension and support for a pro- .iect'lon surface consisting of a plurality of equal self supporting panels without interlocking the panels with each other.

It is another object of the invention to provide means in case of accidental injury to a part of the projection surface to quickly and easily replace the injured portion without the use of special tools or the work of a skilled mechanic.

This invention permits the construction of a projection surface with very fine and narrow spacings producing in vision effect at close range and a smooth surface, at the same time giving a maximum sound passage through the openings.

With these and other objects in view this invention provides a screen which is extremely simple in construction and easy to manufacture at a reasonable price.

The invention will be better understood from the description to follow taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a talking picture screen embodying the invention, the screen being only partly assembled.

Figure 2 shows a single screen panel when partly folded.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of one of the vertical members of the screen frame having a pair of screen panels mounted on its lower end.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the vertical member of Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional side elevation of the screen shown in Figure 2, on line 55 of that figure. I

Figure 6 is an enlarged section on the line 8-4 of Figure 2, illustrating the manner of folding a screen panel into vanes.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, a rectangular screen frame I0 is formed by horizontal top and bottom bars I I which are suitably joined to each other by a plurality of vertical hanger bars I2 spaced from each other. These bars are all made from thin metal preferably aluminum. Along the vertical edges of bars I2 tongues I3 are stamped from the metal of these bars and bent forward from the face of them. The tongues I3 are arranged on bars I2 in pair horizontally and vertically and so spaced that two pairs of tongues are close to each other with a larger space between them and the next couple of pairs above and below them. In horizontal direction the tongues and spaces are arranged on equally parallel lines. On this frame III, a plurality of panels I I are supported which are all alike and are each-preferably formed of a rectangular sheet of thin metal by stamping and bending the same as shown in Figures 2-5 and 6. The rectangular sheet of metal I4 is provided with elongated rectangular slots l5 arranged parallel to each other and spaced horizontally and vertically so that between the slots the vertical strips I6 and horizontal strips II are formed. The width of strips I6 is as close as possible one half the space e of Figure 3 between two tongues of bars I2. The sheet metal of the panel bars is then sharply bent (see Fig. 2) along the lines aa on the upper edges of slots l5 and cc on the lower edges of these slots and the parts b bent upward and against the face of the panel so that line cc comes to lie on line dd of the panel. In this manner the strips I! are formed into horizontal vanes which overlie the panel strip between lines 0 and d. In this manner the slots I5 form air passages through the screen behind every vane II. To prevent a closing up of these passages projections I8 are embossed below the middle portions of vanes I'I against which the covering vane I'I leans and which it covers. The panels I2 when formed in the above described manner are fastened to the frame III by placing them so against the vertical bars I2 that their vertical edges lie against the center lines of spaces e. When the panels are pressed slightly against bars I2 and moved downward tongues I3 enter the space between two veins H (see upper parts of Figure 6) supporting the panel I2 and tieing it against bar l2. As the spaces e are of twice the width of bars I6, two panels I2 in the same horizontal row are held closely together permitting no visible opening between the panels. In the same manner openings between the horizontal edges of the panels are avoided by the vertical spacing of the two close spaced pairs of tongues I3.

This improved screen has a number of ada be built in a great many sizes by making the frame to accommodate more horizontal and vertical rows of panels. And the bars of the frame may be bolted to each other to be disassembled for transportation while the panels may be stacked upon each other to form a small package.

Having thus described my invention, I want it to be understood that changes in details of construction may be made without departing from the principle of the invention and I desire to be limited only by the state of the prior art and the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A screen for talking pictures comprising a frame including a pair of horizontal bars and a plurality of vertical bars joining said horizontal bars, said vertical bars being spaced from each other providing a plurality of rectangular openings, a plurality of panels of sheet material covering each of said openings, said panels having their vertical sides abutting against each other on said vertical bars, each of said panels having longitudinal slots and oblique vanes between said slots forming long horizontal sound passages and means comprising aligned pairs or" tongues on each vertical bar to support a pair of panels thereon and to hold them in abutting position.

2. A screen for moving pictures comprising a frame, a plurality of panels supported on one side of said frame, each of said panels being folded of a single sheet of material having longitudinal slots therein and bars between said slots, said bars overlapping each other forming vanes and said slots forming sound passages between said vanes when folded.

3. A screen for moving pictures comprising a. frame, a plurality of panels supported on one side of said frame, each of said panels being folded of a single sheet of material having longitudinal slots therein, bars between said slots, said bars overlapping each other forming vanes and said slots forming sound passages between said vanes when folded and projections on the front side of, each'vane spacing it from a. covering vane.

4. A screen for talking pictures including a frame having spaced vertical supports joined by horizontal members at their top and bottom ends, a plurality of panel sections, each section consisting of a thin metal body portion formed with a solid central portion and side edges and with slots between said central portion and side edges, the material of the body portion which forms the lower and upper edges of the slots overlapping and means on each of said vertical supports to hold said panels in horizontal and vertical alinement thereon, said means including aligned pairs of tongues.

5. A screen for talking pictures including a frame having spaced vertical members, pairs of spaced tongues formed on said vertical members, and a plurality of panel sections supported by said tongues, each panel section consisting of a thin metal body portion formed with a solid central portion and solid side edges and having slots between said central portion and side edges, the material of the body portion forming the lower and upper edges of the slots overlapping and projections on said overlapping portions to prevent complete closure of the slots.

HARRY HERTZBERG. 

